Your Heritage or Culture

For my bi-monthly journal pages tip-in swap, Stephanie´s theme for my October pages was "Your Heritage or Culture". Her book measures 5,5 x 8,5 inches, so a whole spread is 11 x 8,5 inches.

Well, if you´re German, you may have the same mixed feelings about this theme that I had ... But though I´m very aware of the deadly militaristic Germany of the 19th and 20th century, I see myself in the following of old traditions that have also been here forever, which is mainly German philosophy and literature. And as I was born in a city with a history going back to the year AD 50, I also wanted to show how much history and beauty Germany has that not everybody is aware of.
My Cologne spread shows just a few glimps of this city´s history: the foundation of Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium in AD 50, the invasion by the Vikings in 862 and 882, the bones of the Three Wise Men coming to town in 1164, the building of the cathedral from 1248 to 1880, and some info about the city today. A separate bookmark explains the Coat of Arms of Cologne with the three crowns symbolizing the Three Wise Men, and the 11 flames symbolizing the 11.000 virgin companions of St. Ursula.

My second spread concentrates on some highlights of German literature: the Minnesang period, the Arthurian Legend (found in Heinrich von Veldeke´s, Gottfried von Straßburg´s and Wolfram von Eschenbach´s works for instance), Goethe and Schiller, Bertolt Brecht and Thomas Mann. Below is the bookmark I´ve made to accompany this spread.